This application generally relates to computer systems, and more particularly to computer executed techniques for locating and selecting information.
Computer systems may be used in a variety of applications and environments. For example, in commercial applications of computer systems, a computer may assist a user in making a decision or choice based on information that is viewed using the computer. A computer storing information may be used to display information to a user. Subsequently, the user may make a decision or selection in light of the information presented. One type of information from which a user may make a selection is multimedia data.
When selecting and searching for items within multimedia data, one concern is what to utilize as an index into the multimedia data. One technique uses video key frames as an approach to indexing or accessing into portions of multimedia data. For example, video key frames may serve as reference frames and be used to index into videos. However, a problem may be encountered when the key frames are similar in that a user is associating a key frame with a distinct portion of a video segment. Additionally, when there are multiple media streams associated with one presentation, it may not be clear which one of the media streams to use as an index. In this instance, for example, use of video key frames as an index into portions of multimedia data for selecting and browsing may not be adequate.
Another problem is how to display multimedia data items and associated indices to enable one to browse and select a corresponding presentation. Browsing and selecting techniques, such as those employed by an Internet browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, may be used in conjunction with static data or content information. However, these techniques may not be particularly suitable for use with temporal based multimedia information such as the foregoing video information and other types of multimedia data that may be used as indices into multimedia presentations being browsed.
Thus, there is required a technique for efficiently locating, browsing, and indexing multimedia information.